The Sprout: Happy Agriculture Day Canada

Good day and welcome to the Sprout, where your host hopes everyone has a great Agriculture Day in Canada. It’s also National Tortellini Day and Pancake Tuesday – if you’re looking for some culinary inspiration.

Here’s today’s agriculture news

The Lead

We start with trade: U.S. President Donald Trump expressed frustration Monday about Canada’s trade practices in a lengthy session with reporters where he threatened some as-yet-undefined international tax that has revived fears he might be contemplating new American import penalties.

As The Canadian Press reports, one of Trump’s complaints had to do with agriculture. “Canada does not treat us right in terms of the farming and the crossing the borders,” the President said. ”We cannot continue to be taken advantage of by other countries.” What the president was referring to specifically remains unclear.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has proposed a major shake up of the American food-stamp program. As Bloomberg reports, the Trump administration wants to slash cash payments and substitute them with “100 percent American grown food” that would be given to recipients. If accepted, the change would be the most substantial shift in program delivery since the SNAP program came into force five-decades ago.

A full day of Agriculture Day in Canada festivities is planned at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. Jeff Simmons, the CEO of Elanco Animal Health and Murad Al-Katib, President, AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. and Chair, Agri-Food Economic Strategy Table, will deliver key note speeches among others. You can find the full program here.

Not in Ottawa? Fear not, there are Agriculture Day activities across the country. You can find a full list here.

Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay will unveil new details about the federally funded programs included under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) at 3:45 p.m. EST. An embargoed media technical briefing is planned for 2 p.m. EST. Meanwhile, Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal will make two announcements at the University of Guelph in support of Agriculture Day in Canada at 11 a.m. EST.

The House of Commons Trade Committee continues its study on a potential trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance where they will hear testimony from four embassies: Chile, Peru, United Mexican States, and Columbia.

Canada’s Environment Commissioner appears in front of the House of Commons environment committee on her Fall Report, alongside officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft will attend the MacDonald Laurier Institute dinner at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa where she is expected to talk about Canada-U.S. relations.

The Senate transportation committee continues its look at bill C-49, the Liberal overhaul of the Canadian transportation system. Witnesses Tuesday include several Canadian unions. A number of agriculture groups, including Cereals Canada, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Grain Growers of Canada and the Western Grain Elevators Association will appear Wednesday night. Full meeting notices are here.

ICYMI, the Senate trade committee released its report on Free Trade Agreements: A Tool For Economic Prosperity, last week. You can find the full report here.

In Canada

We start with some developing news: the Ontario government has signed its five-year bilateral agriculture funding agreement with the federal government. “I am pleased this partnership will continue to ensure that Ontario’s agri-food sector has the support it needs to grow, innovate and step up to the challenge of helping feed a growing population,” Leal said in a release Tuesday.

“This partnership will equip our sector with the tools and resources it needs to adapt to changes in the marketplace while seizing new opportunities and responding quickly to any challenges. I look forward to continuing to work with industry and our federal counterparts and look forward to a seamless transition in programming.”

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley will not be attending this weekend’s NDP Convention in Ottawa despite an ongoing interprovincial trade dispute with British Columbia. As iPolitics’ reports, Notley told reporters Monday she never planned to attend the party gathering, which kicks off Friday. No word yet on whether B.C. Premier John Horgan will make an appearance.

Meanwhile, Notley said Monday she doesn’t want to escalate the feud, but said she is prepared to look at further retaliatory measures if necessary. The Alberta premier said she wants the federal government to make progress on the file within a matter of days, adding B.C.’s actions are illegal and must be reversed.

And, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has lifted all remaining quarantines associated with a 2016 outbreak of bovine tuberculosis. The CFIA said Monday no source of infection has been identified for the six TB-positive cattle. The Manitoba Co-operator has the story.

Internationally

Well this sounds unpleasant: an Oregon woman has become the first person worldwide known to have had her eye infested by a tiny worm species previously seen only in cattle, U.S. government researchers said on Monday. As Reuters explains, the infestation is apparently spread by flies that feed on eyeball lubrication.

The Associated Press explains why tens of thousands of American soybean and cotton farmers are taking mandatory, training classes on how to apply dicamba, a pesticide that has been blamed for drifting and damaging crops in neighbouring fields.

We end today with a heartwarming story about a Quebec milk man who is retiring after 67 years on the job. As CBC News reports, Arnaldo de Castris started delivering milk in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district when he was 15. Now 82, he says he plans to put his feet up …and maybe sleep in a little.